


on a good day

by hanyolo



Series: time, as a symptom [1]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7706614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanyolo/pseuds/hanyolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They decide to tell Tony first. Well, they decide that if they tell Tony first they won't have to tell anyone else. He's a terrible gossip. // or the one where Natasha and Bruce tell the others about their relationship</p>
            </blockquote>





	on a good day

They decide to tell Tony first. Well, they decide that if they tell Tony first they won't have to tell anyone else. He's a terrible gossip. So they sit down with him in the lab with the rightful assumption that their news will have spread within minutes. 

"You guys are together?" Tony repeats, with wide eyes and a slack jaw. "Together together?”

"Yes," Natasha says. Her lips quirk in amusement. 

"In what way?”

Bruce hesitates. They've never actually discussed a label for their relationship, always just dealt with it as it's happened. 

"A romantic relationship," Natasha confirms. More for Bruce's sake than Tony's; it's none of his damn business. 

"Can you even have sex?" This question is directed at Bruce. 

"We're not answering that," Natasha says flatly. But Bruce's stammering and flushed cheeks give it away. She rolls her eyes fondly, reaches out to squeeze his hand. 

"Am I being punk’d?"

"No, Tony," Bruce sighs. "You're not being punk'd?"

"Is this a recent thing?" 

Natasha and Bruce glance at each other, wordlessly trying to decide when their relationship officially started. 

"A while," Natasha finally says. "A couple months.”

"A couple months?" Tony stammers. "Months? Right under my nose for months.”

"Well," Bruce says, "maybe more than that. Technically it's been six months.”

"Yes," Natasha agrees. "But officially, only a couple.”

"I can't believe this. I cannot believe this."

"Are you having a panic attack?" Natasha deadpans.

Tony has always had a flair for the dramatics, for as long as she's known him. She'll never forgot the birthday party she attended as Natalie Rushman. How he'd had her destroy the ice sculpture with Iron Man's fist (just for fun, had been his drunken reasoning). Of course, he had been trying to get in her pants. She had just being trying to get Intel on him and the workings of his suit. 

"My two best friends," Tony finally exclaims. "In love!”

"Please, stop," Bruce says. 

Tony reaches towards them, takes their hands in his. His eyes are watery and Natasha feels like they could've probably just told him in an email. It would have been a lot less sufferable. 

Eventually they just leave Tony in the lab. He had started talking about double dates and couples yoga and this is a big enough step for Natasha as it is - and Bruce gets that - so they leave him alone to sort his emotions out. 

"That could've been worse," Natasha says as they walk to the elevator, shoulders brushing.

"Thank you," Bruce says quietly. "I know you like to keep things to yourself and telling Tony anything is the opposite of that, so thank you.”

She stops walking, reaches up to cup his face. 

"Hey," she says softly, thumbs rubbing along his cheekbones. "I want to be with you. And I don't want it to be a secret.”

Bruce smiles, leans down to kiss her. He pulls back, rests his forehead against hers.  
"Does this mean I get to take you on a real date?”

"Of course," she says, letting one hand trail down to rest against his chest. She taps her finger in time with his heartbeat. It makes him smile. "Will you take me ice skating at Christmas time?”

Bruce's words get stuck in his throat. It's June. Christmas is months away. And the fact that Natasha is thinking that far ahead makes his heart swell in his chest. He takes her in, her eyes open and honest, the way she chews on her lip, nervously waiting for his reaction. 

"Yes," Bruce breathes out, pulling her into a hug. "And every Christmas after that.”

He feels Natasha smile against his neck and wonders when he fell so damn hard. 

 

The problem with relying on Tony to tell their secret is that he's not a very reliable source. Sure, he's a great friend and a brilliant scientist and he has saved them all on several occasions. But he also spreads rumours like wildfire, most of them misinformed and untrue, and everyone has learnt not to take what he says at face value. 

They know the news has spread when they walk into the kitchen together and the Avengers are gathered, watching them with curious eyes. No one wants to be the first to come out and ask but Natasha can tell they are all desperate to know. 

Steve is at the counter, chopping onions and peppers. It's not his turn to make dinner tonight (Bruce is pretty sure it's his) but Steve enjoys cooking and always offers. Bruce just wishes Steve enjoyed doing the dishes too. 

"A good cook cleans up after himself," Bruce argues every time Steve takes over from him. And Steve's rebuttal is always the same. "But a great cook has other people do it for him."  
"You're not that great," Bruce will mutter under his breath. And he'll still end up doing the dishes

 

Bruce sits at the kitchen table, Thor across from him and Maria to his right. 

"When did you get in?" He asks Maria. Last he had heard she was in Lithuania. 

"Like an hour ago," she says, leaning back in her chair. "So I'm exhausted and crazy jet-lagged, and I might pass out over dinner. But I couldn't say no to Steve's cooking.”

Steve gives Bruce a pointed look which he pretends not to notice. 

"What are you making?" Natasha asks, reaching over to steal a bit of pepper. 

"Bolognese," he says, nudging Natasha's arm away. 

"You made that last night," Clint says from where he is sitting, not bothering to look up from the report he is reading. 

"Do you want to cook?" Steve asks, annoyed.

“Nope."

"I really wish you would allow me to cook," Thor says, almost petulantly. “My mother taught me how to make some of Asgard’s finest dishes.”

There's something about Thor that is so endearing, almost childlike, and none of them want to be the one to break his spirit. 

As always, it's up to Natasha. 

"Last time we let you cook you brought in a live goat to be slaughtered in the kitchen.”

"An Asgardian tradition," he defends. 

"Yeah, but this is Earth," Clint says. "And only crazy people do that.”

Natasha rolls her eyes fondly as Clint and Thor begin a discussion on their cultural differences. There's occasional input from Maria, but it's mostly just the two men having a battle of their egos. 

"Servants are available to provide you with nourishment anytime you wish," Thor boasts proudly. 

"We got that, too," Clint says. "It's called McDonalds.”

Natasha lets out a huff of laughter as she crosses the kitchen to get to the fridge. She passes Bruce, who is slouched at the table, gently runs her hand along his back. He looks up at her, a soft smile on his face. She presses her lips together, doesn't want anyone else to see the bashful grin that graces her face whenever Bruce looks at her like that. Her eyes, however, are soft and full of affection.

Natasha opens the fridge, grabs two bottles of water, hands one to Bruce.

"What is a McDonald?" Thor asks, oblivious to the way Clint is watching Natasha and Bruce, mouth wide open. 

"Oh my god," he exclaims. "We thought Stark was making it up.”

"Making what up?" Maria asks. Of course, she hadn't been here for Stark's big announcement. 

"Nat and Bruce are banging," Clint says, eyes glittering with the excitement of his children at Christmas. 

Steve clears his throat awkwardly while Bruce chokes on his water. Natasha sits beside him, rubs his back while she kicks Clint under the table. 

"Seriously?" Maria asks. She doesn't sound too surprised and Natasha thinks she has suspected something for a while now. 

"What is banging?" Thor asks. 

Clint leans back in his seat, looking smug. 

"Doin' it."

Thor still looks confused. 

"Knocking boots, bumping uglies, doing the nasty. Need I go on?”

"No," Bruce and Natasha say in unison

"I do not understand," Thor says in his booming voice. "What nasty?”

As he says this, Tony walks in, Pepper not far behind him. 

"You guys talking about Bruce and Nat playing hide the zucchini?”

"Nice." Clint reaches up for a high five.

"Boys," Pepper warns sternly. "Be nice.”

Thor is still frowning in confusion. Pepper takes pity on him and explains it to him in the most PG-13 way she can manage. She has no doubt Thor knows all about sex; it's just the euphemisms that have confused him. But, at the same time, she really doesn't want to have this conversation. 

"Oh." Thor's look of confusion turns into one of joy and pride. "Natasha. Bruce. My two friends, I am so very happy for you!”

He crosses the kitchen in one long stride, doesn't give them a chance to stand before he wraps his arms around them both in a crushing hug. 

He finally lets them go, oblivious to the murderous look in Natasha's eyes. 

"A love like this is rare, it must be treasured and encouraged.”

"Love?" Clint mouths. Natasha kicks him under the table for a second time. 

Not because there's no way she could love Bruce Banner. It's not as outlandish an idea as it once was. She really thinks that, with time, she could learn to love this gentle, nerdy man. And that thought terrifies her. Makes her want to pack up and run. Then he'll look at her, with his unruly curls, and soft eyes, and give her that smile, the one she knows is reserved for her. And her heart swells in her chest and she knows she could never leave him, would never want to. 

"Can you guys even do it?" Clint yelps when Natasha kicks him again, extra hard this time.  
Hopefully it will bruise. 

She's just glad Bruce doesn't get all flustered like he did when Tony had asked. 

"That's none of your business," she says. 

"That means yes," Hill says. It's been a long time since she's been intimidated by Natasha's death glare, so she just shrugs. 

"We're not gonna talk about this," Bruce says, sliding his chair back and stands up.  
Natasha does the same, slipping her hand into his. 

"Where are you going?" Steve asks. "Dinner's almost ready.”

"On a date," Bruce decides. 

He ignores Clint and Tony's catcalls as they exit the room, the sight of Natasha's flushed cheeks and shy grin imprinted in his mind. 

 

"You know," Natasha says slowly, carefully, as she sits across from Bruce in the back corner of a low-lit French restaurant three blocks from the tower. "That's two people who mentioned love today.”

Bruce looks up at her, menu forgotten. There is hesitation all over his face. 

"Yes," he says softly, hands fidgeting with the napkin on the table in front of him. "I suppose it is.”

Without breaking eye contact, Natasha leans back in her chair, gently rubs her foot against his leg underneath the table. 

"Not yet," she says, the slightest crack in her voice. "But one day.”

Bruce regards her for a moment, her casual body language betrayed by the uncertainty in her eyes and the way she worries her bottom lip between her teeth. He leans forward slightly, his leg firm against her foot. 

"One day.”

She smiles at him, soft and bashful, and tucks her hair behind her ears, and he thinks that one day might already be here.


End file.
